Bipasha, Kajol, Konkona: Female actors in Bollywood who fought colorism
Colorism—discrimination based on one's skin tone—is a prevalent issue in Bollywood, one that has started to fade away slowly but hasn't been eradicated from its core. One of its most well-known victims is actor Kajol, who recently revealed in an interview that she was initially called "fat" and "dark," but "couldn't care less." Here are some other actors who fought colorism.
Bipasha Basu
Bipasha Basu underwent extreme media scrutiny in her initial years and it wasn't always for the right reasons. She was targeted repeatedly for her dark complexion, even though the majority of India also has the same skin color. Not the one to be bogged down, Basu carried on with her work and has movies such as Omkara, Jism, and Dhoom 2 to her credit.
Konkona Sen Sharma
Multi-hyphenate and National Award-winning artist Konkona Sen Sharma didn't meet society's parameters of "conventional beauty," but that was never a problem for this director and actor who didn't opt for any skin-lightening techniques. Apart from earning laurels for her acting in Omkara, Life in a....Metro, Kuttey, and Lipstick Under My Burkha, she also directed the critically acclaimed A Death in the Gunj.
Priyanka Chopra
Priyanka Chopra has had an inimitable journey both in Bollywood and Hollywood, one that doesn't have too many parallels. The former Miss World had to fight rampant colorism in the industry during her first few years. In fact, Andaaz's producer Suneel Darshan once said, "She had this dark complexion, there were a few defects that she needed to correct at that point in time."
Rani Mukerji
Rani Mukerji was at her peak at a time when the Hindi film industry majorly wanted fair girls who would fit into the bracket of being a "proper Indian woman" and woo the male lead. Mukerji, however, was different—from her height to her voice to her complexion, nothing about her screamed "traditional." Subsequently, she made a mark with Black, Hichki, and Mehndi, among others.
